1. ABR (55) VS. (45) 16. FLCL - ABR's top notch in SM and ORAS, but FLCL has more experience in BW and is good enough to compete with anyone in the others seeing as he made finals last season and has been pretty successful overall. This is really close for a 1-16 matchup and FLCL definitely has a shot, but still gotta favor ABR because of how solid he is in SM and ORAS + the level of team prep he puts into this.
2. Ojama (70) VS. (30) 15. Elodin - Ojama is the better player and matches up well here seeing as he worked with Elodin in Elodin's best tier during the most recent SPL. Elodin has an outside shot of taking any of the three tiers, but he's going to have to outprepare and outplay someone who seems to have the edge on him on both fronts.
3. Empo (55) vs (45) 14. Mounts - Really cool series here. Empo has been on fire in individuals for a while now, but Mounts has established himself as a great player, too. I think that you have to favor Empo slightly in BW, Mounts in ORAS, and Empo in SM. I feel like Mounts's experience in ORAS will go a long way, but Empo is the more versatile of the two. I think that with some team support and smart play, BW can really go either way here, so I would not be surprised at all if Mounts took that and the set. With that said, Empo is no stranger from high-level ORAS play and is very crafty in SM as well, so I'm favoring him given slightly greater levels of past success.
4. SoulWind (60) vs (40) 13. undisputed - I think a lot of people view SoulWind as the big favorite here, but honestly the only tier he has a clear advantage in is BW imo. Both know their way around the other two metagames, but do not stand out a ton. SoulWind you have to give an advantage in SM, too, considering his recent OST run, but I do not think he is necessarily a top player there yet and undisputed has shown a lot of interest in SM leading up to WCOP and in this SmogTour, so that isn't a blowout either. I think SoulWind takes it in three, but it won't be easy by any means, especially given how successful undisputed has been in recent months.
5. bro fist (75) vs (25) 12. Mix - John's solid across all three, but best in SM and ORAS ofc. Mix isn't a bad player, but he never really established himself anywhere and I question his ability to keep up with John if he doesn't match-up well. I think that ultimately John will bring pretty standard, consistent builds and simply show off his superior ability to pilot teams in each tier and take it in 2. Mix will have a shot if he uses stuff that aren't conventional and catches John off guard, potentially.
6. Blackoblivion (60) vs (40) 11. Googly - BO had a fantastic SPL and has been displaying levels of competency in BW/ORAS in recent months since then, so he has a good shot against Googly here, imo. The thing with Googly is that he is creative and unpredictable, but far from consistent. A lot of this series will boil down to match-up and how practical Googly's teams are and I simply do not have full confidence that they will be up to where they need to be, so I'll stick with the higher seed and slightly more experienced of the two in BO.
7. Blunder (65) vs (35) 10. Odeio Stall - I don't know Odeio Stall all too well, but from the games I have seen he has been really crafty and even impressive at times. With that said, this is still the big stage and he is still very new, so until I see more, it's hard to predict him to emerge victorious against someone competent in all three metagames and proven like Blunder.
8. We Three Kings (60) vs (40) 9. Energy - Lasse is a great player across a ton of generations and I expect that to show quite a bit in these playoffs. I think he's a dark horse to win it all or at least go very far. Laurel doesn't stand out in any of the metagames and tends to frequent fairly quirky, inconsistent builds from what I saw over the course of the regular season, so I find it hard to favor him in any tier here. With that said, he does find ways to win and isn't afraid to take risks at a surprisingly high level, so it isn't as lopsided as I may make it seem.